The best friend of my brother-in-law and a man who became a dear friend of our family, died on Christmas day. He was 65 and had only been retired for 3 years. It’s sad to lose anyone but on the very day you plan on celebrating with your family . . . I can’t even imagine.

I’d never been to such a funeral. He was the former fire chief of the city I live in. His funeral was last Tuesday and there were firemen and firetrucks from all over. Such an outpouring of emotion. It was obvious that he was a respected professional and good friend to an awful lot of people.

All of my family came to celebrate Christmas at our house yesterday. Everyone except of course my daughter. It was expected but it still seems strange to not have her there. The emptiness of not having my daughter a part of our lives will always be a bitter part of any holiday or celebration.

My niece gave her mom & stepdad a small present that when unwrapped revealed a “Baby on board” sign for their car. It took but a moment for them to realize that she was announcing her pregnancy and they both cried at the news. This will be their 4th grandchild, the first from their youngest daughter.

After Tai Chi class in Kansas City on Saturday I drove down to the Plaza to try and do a little Christmas shopping and to take some photos of the Plaza Christmas banner that my niece designed. It was packed with thousands of shoppers.

While trying to find a parking spot I spied a rather large man (about 6′5″ or more) holding a sign offering free hugs. On the opposite corner were several more people holding similar signs. After finding a parking spot I made my way back to them to take some photos and what the hell - why not get a few hugs too?

I’ve always loved a good movie. Even a really bad one can be fun at times. I’ve found the better the movie, the more likely it is that I got completely absorbed into the story and forgot about ‘me’. For 2 hours I became absorbed in another reality.

Is our real life with the black dog really any different? We are in the movie that is our life, we over-identify with all the characters and emotions flickering before our eyes.

In honor of Halloween today’s post takes a little break from writing about the black dog of depression.

They say the difference between a real story and fairy tale is that a fairy tale starts out with “Once upon a time” and a real story starts out with “This is no shit!”

A woman I used to work with named Suzy told me when she was in High School her grandmother was ill and moved in with them. Grandma later died and shortly after that her family moved to a new house. Their old house sat empty & unsold for a while.